The Design to People the Earth—Sin Temporarily Halts the Plan—The Promise to Fill the Earth with the Righteous Still Holds—How It Is to Succeed
By GEORGE W. REASER
This is the second of several articles prepared by Elder Reaser on the general theme of the “eternal purpose of God” concerning this earth. His article last week gave some suggestions concerning the proper basis for Bible study. It also showed that God designed, in the beginning, that this earth should be peopled with righteous characters; and that this purpose will be carried out through Christ, notwithstanding the entrance of sin. Each article is sufficiently complete in itself to enable the reader to understand it without having seen what has gone before. But all who read the entire series will be well repaid, and get the greater benefit.
EDITOR.
JEHOVAH’S eternal purpose for our world, comprehended in the very first commission given to Adam and Eve in the garden, made it possible for them to have filled the earth with their own descendants, all sinless and deathless, fully sympathetic, supremely happy. Had it not been for the injection of sin, God’s plan for our planet would have gone forward to completion by the natural birth increase of the human family, without the inauguration of the plan of salvation and the consequent sacrifice of Calvary. After the injection of sin, artfully designed to defeat the eternal purpose, then the only way to save the situation was by the inauguration of the plan of redemption and the awful sacrifice of Calvary. But God’s plan being perfect, and His word having gone forth in the commission to Adam to replenish the earth, all heaven is pledged to carry the plan to completion, no matter how great the sacrifice to the Father and the Son, the originators of the plan.
PEOPLED WITH THE RIGHTEOUS
The plan of redemption, set in operation for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose, will, even under the adverse conditions of sin, finally develop and gather out of the human family enough characters to complete the commission given in Eden. The selections for the completing of this world family will be on the basis of perfection of character to fit into God’s all-wise plan. This fitness is simply the development of character in Christ Jesus, the restoration of the image of God in man, which image was lost in the dire calamity of the fall.
Thus the whole plan of redemption was set in operation to carry God’s eternal purpose to completion, by the process of the new birth and subsequent character development. Thus again we repeat, “He hath chosen us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.”
Concerning this eternal purpose expressed in the first commission given in Eden, it is written, “So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isa. 55: 11. Thus prophecy foretells the completion of the plan, notwithstanding the adverse conditions of sin.
About thirty-three centuries after the inauguration of Satan’s efforts to defeat the purpose of God for our world, Jehovah declared through His prophets: “But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.” Isa. 45: 17, 18.
Herr Gottlieb von Jagow, German minister of foreign affairs since 1913.
These inspired words clearly teach that Jehovah had a definite design in mind in the creation of the earth, and that it will be accomplished in behalf of His people, Israel. And again it is written, “Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.” Isa. 60: 21. And still again, “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Hab. 2: 14.
THE FIRST RAY OF HOPE
The very first ray of hope held out to the human family after the fall, had to do with God’s eternal purpose. Satan had arrayed himself against God, to nullify His eternal purpose. In order to make that purpose effectual, the adversary must be reckoned with, and in some way defeated. The commission was, to replenish the earth. Sin perpetuated, and consequent death, would nullify it. The assurance of the carrying to completion of the divine commission, and also the defeat of the one who opposed the eternal purpose, was given in the very first gospel promise. This promise assured the birth of the God-man, the Seed of the woman, into the human family, who would finally defeat Satan. The substance of this promise was that the Seed of the woman would inflict a fatal wound upon the head of the author of sin. Gen. 3: 15.
Through one of the minor prophets, Jehovah more fully outlines the final outcome of this gospel promise, the completion of His eternal purpose, in these words: “And Thou [Christ], O Tower of the flock, the Stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto Thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4: 8.
THE SONS OF GOD AND THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN
We must not overlook another thought recorded in Gen. 3: 15. By a careful reading, we discover that the Lord stated He would divide the race into just two classes,—the seed of Satan, and the seed of the woman. In the multiplication of the seed of the woman, God at first gave Eve two sons. By development of character, the elder of these became the seed of Satan, and the head of the ungodly line of the human family. The beginning of the genealogy of this line, and sufficient of the outline of their history to show their character, is recorded in Gen. 4: 5-24. The genealogy of the godly line, from creation to the Deluge, is given in Gen. 4: 25 to Gen. 5: 32. By character development, the line of demarcation is sharply drawn between the first two sons of Adam and Eve. It is evident that the third son, Seth, was positively godly in character; and the children of Cain having come to maturity, it became necessary, in God’s plan, for each class to be designated by some distinctive title. What was more natural than that the godly line should choose “to call themselves by the name of the Lord” (Gen. 4: 26, margin)—in reality “sons of God,” a descriptive expression common to later writers, as it is written, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God”? Those who were never “born again,” simply remained the sons and daughters of men, and in leadership the children of Satan, led captive at his will. This distinction explains the difficulty some have experienced over “the sons of God” intermarrying with “the daughters of men.” Gen. 6: 2, 4.
DEMORALIZING MARRIAGES
If the godly line had always contracted marriage in their own class, the dire calamity of the Flood might never have been essential. But of all the influences that swung the world to the ungodly line, and demanded the Deluge, the choosing of wives by “the sons of God” from “the daughters of men” was the most potent and pernicious. They thus placed the rearing of their children in the hands of ungodly mothers, and the mothers of humanity mold the character of the race. Among other influences to demoralize the race, these unholy matrimonial alliances finally produced a condition that made the destruction of “the ungodly world” imperative.454
GOD’S STRANGE ACT
When, as Jehovah, His ever watchful eye over the righteous line, with His eternal purpose in mind, saw that the earth was corrupt, filled with violence, and that at most only eight souls were left in the godly line, there was but one way to save the situation, and preserve the godly seed from being overwhelmed by the ungodly line. That way, drastic though it may seem to some, was, to sweep away the ungodly line, and start anew in the plan of carrying out His eternal purpose, the replenishing of the earth with the righteous. Had he not destroyed the ungodly with the Flood, how long would it have been before the few in the godly line would have been submerged in the ungodly, and His eternal purpose defeated? Again, how could the Seed of the woman, the God-man, who must come into the world in order to make Jehovah’s purpose carry, make His appearance in the human family, unless the righteous line were preserved?
The careful Bible student will discover that whenever, in the history of the world, God has performed “a strange act” in the sweeping away of the wicked, that act can be accounted for on the basis of making possible the completion of His eternal purpose.
THE COMMISSION RENEWED TO NOAH
If this great plan, to be eternally beneficial to all who will properly relate themselves to it,—and the only election for eternal life is on the basis of fitting into God’s eternal purpose,—is ever uppermost, always present, in the mind of God, and if that plan was comprehended in the first commission given to Adam and Eve, ought we not to expect the first commission to be repeated to the righteous line, the surviving progenitors of the race, after the Deluge? This is precisely what we do find. Immediately after the eight souls had landed from the ark, we discover the renewal, to Noah and his sons, of exactly the same blessing and the same commission given to our first parents before the entrance of sin. These are the words: “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”
